brother's keeper
by the horseman's hunting song
Summary: For once, Klaus thinks he'd welcome the ghosts, if it meant he could just stop seeing Ben's blood every time he closes his eyes.


**_Author's__ Note:_** _Story started out as an attempt to do each section at one-hundred words, but faltered eventually and became what it became. **Warning: **Canon death. Tons of angst.  
_

* * *

Luther rounds them all up from their various ends of the house: Vanya with her violin still in hand, and Allison in silk pajamas, and Diego all nerves and barely-restrained energy, like they don't all know that he spends his nights on unsanctioned patrols.

"Tell us what happened, Klaus," Luther says, with authority that has always settled around him like poor fitting clothing.

Klaus sinks deeper in his seat, worrying his hands together in his lap. For once, he thinks he'd welcome the ghosts, if it meant he could just stop seeing Ben's blood every time he closes his eyes.

* * *

_"I don't know about this, Klaus," Ben said, for about the thousandth time a row. He was standing in front of the mirror, his fingers fiddling with the edges of his leather jacket, covering his gray hoodie. Well - okay, so it was Diego's leather jacket. But in this family, civvies were everyone's and no one complained. _

_At least, that was what Klaus had been banking on when he had liberated his bright purple boa from Allison's room earlier today. _

_"Oh, stop worrying, Benny," Klaus said, slinging an arm over his shoulder._

_"Someone has to," Ben muttered. But he was smiling._

* * *

In the waiting area, there is nothing to do but sit and wait. And wait, and wait, and wait.

Diego, though, paces. His feet thud against the floor, like he is planting them to throw a knife, and his head cranes towards the door every time there is the slightest sound beyond it, and his body is tense, tense, tense. And every now and then his eyes swing towards Klaus again, and the thing is, Klaus doesn't think Diego has even made it to mad yet.

How can you be mad at your brother who is always, perpetually screwing up?

* * *

_There was a side of Ben that no one except Klaus got to see._

_Klaus wasn't special. God, he knew that. Ben would've happily told any of them if they'd listen. About how the monsters were always crawling under his skin, always whispering in his mind, always aching for escape. How he rarely felt like himself._

_"I just wish I could be myself for like a minute, y'know?" Ben mused, while they sat and eat doughnuts in a booth because, hey, Hargreeves family tradition. Gotta start the night out right. "I just want to be_ alone_ for once."_

_Yeah._

_He knows._

* * *

They're all on their feet when the doors swing open and Mom steps out. Her dress is coated in red, red, red.

"Mom?" Diego asks.

She doesn't acknowledge him, doesn't acknowledge the question in the air. She says: "We need blood."

Luther lets go of Allison's hand. "Can I come in?" He asks, already rolling up his sleeve.

Mom probably can't be worried; worry isn't the kind of thing their father could (or would) program.

Still, Klaus thinks it's probably not good that she puts her hand on his chest and stops him, filling the bag there before going back.

* * *

_"So this really makes the ghosts go away, huh?" Ben asked, the joint dangling from his fingers._

_"Complete and total silence," Klaus replied, taking a long drag from his own. "Dude - it's heaven."_

* * *

Ben is the first one who steps out of the med bay, still dressed in his civvies, looking pale and shell-shocked. There is no blood anywhere.

Klaus leans over and hurls.

* * *

_They were both high - high - high -_

_And Ben had this smile on his face, this sudden, bright joy, like Klaus remembered from waking up that first time to silence. Pain in his jaw, yeah, but total silence because the painkillers were so strong that he had a buzz and there were no ghosts, no ghosts anywhere -_

_And for a minute, Klaus didn't notice the first tentacle creeping out, testing its freedom, testing what it was like to have no barriers, no restraint -_

_Rending his brother in two._

* * *

"This is not your fault, Klaus," Ben tells him, as they sit together in the courtyard. "We couldn't have known. And anyway, I made my own choices."

But the thing about that is, they're sitting together in the courtyard at Ben's funeral.

That night, for the first time (but not the last), Klaus flies so high his heart stops.

And he learns that the ghosts you create, you don't leave behind.


End file.
